Enriching the Gift
by espertortuga
Summary: Murdoc needs a favor from 2D, but his attempt at asking causes the singer to see him in a different light. 2D tries to get a grip on himself, but starts loosing it more as he spends more time with the bassist. Phase Three.


**Another epic story by figleaf! I'm taking a crack at writing a 2D/Muds. Be sure to comment with suggestions/errors or whatever.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gorillaz**

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The tiny droplet of water dangled from the pipe, wanting to stay clutched tightly, yet gravity was telling it otherwise. Stu watched mesmerized as the little drip of compressed condensation desperately fought to keep hold of it's grip, then finally after a long struggle it finally gave in and landed in the bucket below with a tiny splash.

Yup. He was bored alright. He lazily raised his hand up to his chest, mindlessly scratching, and yawned. Paper was sprawled all over the floor, some sheet music, piano cords, lyrics, his attempts at making a Haiku about zombies, and doodles of anything that popped into his mind. The singer wasn't exactly sure what time it was, but he hardly cared since it wouldn't change anything. He was just there. Cooped up in a room. A room that just so happened to be underwater.

_It's every little boy's fantasy to live at the aquarium! _The voice rung in his head_._

_Yeah, right_, he thought resentfully at his former best mate's words. _And it's just an added bonus that the star attraction to my "aquarium" is flippin Shamu_! He paused at the thought_. Oh wait, Shamu's a killer whale_. He stopped himself again and added, _Well, they're all bloody killer if you ask me_!

His thoughts turned to the man who trapped him here. _That Murdoc, bleedin tosser. Trappin' me in here for his new piece of egomania. I hope he gets what he deserves. _He smirked to himself when he thought of various evil scenarios involving the bass player.

Well they weren't really evil, more like just plain silly. Like choking on a microwave jellyfish at breakfast, or having his bass explode when he struck a G cord, or filling his booze bottles with sea water. That last one he really thought about doing.

Lost in his own thoughts the singer neglected to notice his door beginning to open with the bassist himself hunched at the doorway with his usual frown. He stood there for a good two minutes looking at Stuart staring at the wall, humming and giggling to himself. "That'll show 'im," he said out loud.

"That'll show who?" Murdoc growled. "Waaaah!" 2D yelped and fell headfirst out of bed.

"Nu-nuffink," he sputtered from the floor. "Hmph. That's what I though," he smirked. He walked over to where 2D was trying to recover from his fall and grunted.

"Oi. When you're done being a bumbling idiot, I got a serious question fer ya." He crossed his arms and plunked down on the edge of the bed. 2D awkwardly got to his feet and even more awkwardly stood there in front of the bassist, but he began to feel self-conscious so he sat down on the bed near him. He attempted a polite smile, but it went down instantly when met with Murdoc's scowl. "Umm..." the young bluenette started saying. He shifted from his suddenly uncomfortable spot on the bed and Murdoc shot him a look. "Err... wot wos it ya wanted ta ask me," he finally managed to cough out.

He had no idea why he was so nervous. I mean, normally he was nervous around Murdoc because the Satanist would suddenly lash out at him for no reason, or smack him upside the head and laugh. So yeah, he had every right to be a teeny bit nervous around the older man. That, and paranoid beyond belief. 2D raised his hand in a fist to his mouth and made a small fake cough, and Murdoc glared at him again, causing his arm to shoot back down like a bullet and his throat to mumble out an apology. Finally Murdoc cleared his own throat and began.

"So 2D, what didja do after we, y'know, split up?" Murdoc casually asked, which caught him completely by surprise. If he were eating something, he would be choking, but he wasn't so instead he choked on air.

For starters, he addressed him as 2D, and not something with less dignity, like "face-ache," "twat," "twerp," or "you little fff-," which he rarely did. Secondly, he wondered about what he did after he left the band, showing concern about him perhaps? This wasn't the Murdoc he knew. And third, he's actually attempting to have a seemingly normal conversation with him, like normal human beings do. His mind was blown. He scrambled to get his thoughts in order.

"Oh, ahh, wull I," he rose his hand to the back of his neck and could feel it getting hot, so he looked down to the ground. "I uh, wen' ta me mum's place for a while, took care 'o me pop's fairgrounds. They put me in charge of the Ferris wheel, heh." He half smiled and looked up at Murdoc who wasn't even looking back at him. He seemed to be contemplating something else entirely different, or maybe he was listening, 2D couldn't really tell. Murdoc glanced at him and simply said, "Go on."

2D gulped and suddenly started feeling his face getting hot. _Oi, why am I feelin' all tingly_, he thought. It was really weird, like he forgot how to act around Murdoc, most likely because he was being...nice to him? _NICE? _He looked down to avoid the bassist's face and continued. "I wen' and did a little modeling aftah that, nothing serious, just a few magazine, an' stuff..." He stopped and waited for Murdoc's reaction, but he just let out a "Hm."

He could suddenly start to feel his palms getting sweaty, so he rubbed his hands on the sides of the bed and took in a breath of air. "...And then?" the greenish man inquired without a single hint of anger in his voice, but more of curiosity.

Now his mind pressed the panic button and he was fidgeting on the bed. _Th' fook's wrong wit me?_ he asked his brain, who had gone into hyperdrive. _Thissz th' guy 'oo trapped me down 'ere, I should be pissed off or somefink, not actin' like... LIKE THIS!_

Despite his current state, he reluctantly continued his story. "Aftah that, I guess I ah... wanned ta do summink that actually made a difference, you know, changed people ina more positive way," he cheered up when he though about what he did and once again peeked over to Murdoc. This time however Murdoc was smiling back at him with a kind of feverish excitement, which scared the shit out of him. His whole face flushed red. _God-dammit, why why why?_

He bit the bottom half of his lip.

"Well? Wotja do, huh Stu? Come on,"

_He called him fucking Stu!_ It was too much. His brain turned into a mushy jello jiggler that jiggled one too many times, and he was pretty sure if you hooked up his heart to a generator, it could power all of London for about a year.

"I-I-I wuh-went ta Tibet ta help the people out a bit." he somehow managed to compose. The fiery passionate smile dropped like a ton of bricks from the bassist's face and he returned to his usual frown.

"Oh."

...

_Oh? _

_That's it, just Oh?_

_What did he do?_ Did he say something wrong? What the fuck was he suppose to say? He almost wanted to ask Murdoc what the right answer was but he didn't so he did the only other thing he could think of and nervously kept going.

"S-so I spent a few months there, and I gotta call from a mate o' mine ova in Beirut." He thought he almost heard a tiny malicious chuckle come from Murdoc, but when he looked over, he still wore the same frown from before.

"He said he knew a place an' that I should go check it out, so I went and I liked it. Wos a really great guy, that Tim. We'd go out 'an party ya know? It wos great I tell you wot, met lotsa chicks at the clubs, time of me life," he reminisced almost forgetting that he was talking to Murdoc.

Murdoc made an annoyed grunt and glared at him. Okay. Now he said something worse? Holy shit, this guy's confusing. He didn't get it.

Now the bassist now looked like he was ready to bite his head off. 2D though this was a fantastic time to shut-up. "Did you do anything to improve your talents?" he growled, now aggravated.

2D was confused, but Murdoc was back to normal. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "Wot do you mean?" he quivered. Murdoc rose his fist and 2D flinched. He stopped for a moment and brought it back down, sighing. "Face-ache," he mumbled, "lemme get right to the point for that stupid little brain of yours. I wanna know if you've been practicing guitar." he let out another agitated sigh.

_Huh?_

Wait-what? That's what he really wanted to know? _But that's Nood-_

He stopped. The shocked expression morphed into one of sorrow at the thought of that guitarist. Murdoc predicted this would happen, he just waited for the next reaction and boom, there it was; confusion. Before 2D could ask the question that Murdoc already knew was on his mind, he interrupted him.

"I need you to play some guitar on the album, cos there's some parts where Cyborg just can't get it. But not only that, when we need to bloody practice, she needs ta be out there shootin' the damn bastards in the sky."

2D looked at him and blinked. Murdoc looked to the floor and mumbled something under his breath and placed his hand on 2D's shoulder. He let out a tiny squeak, and the flash of red burst onto his face again.

"I need you to play guitar with my bass parts on a few of th' songs."

2D was breathing out of his mouth now. The heat from Murdoc's hand on his shoulder made his whole right side go numb.

"I-I-I-I... still need a lil' practice... but I fink I can do it," he stuttered.

_Gaaah! There is something terribly wrong with me!_

Murdoc nodded, and he almost thought he was impossibly agreeing with his thought. "Right, okay shall we then? I've got a guitar set up for you in the studio. Don't dawdle." His hand slid off his shoulder, bringing the limb back to life with cold air, and the bassist began to walk out the room.

2D sat there in a daze for a long time. He looked around and he realized he was alone again. _Wos that just a dream,_ he asked himself. He was almost sure it could have been a hallucination caused from being cooped up for so long. He looked to the front of the room.

The door was open.


End file.
